Friday, May 11, 2012

Good to Have Friends!

I drove my son to one of his extracurricular activities in a neighboring suburb last night.  My daughter decided to go along.  After we dropped my son off at the start of the activity, my daughter and I grabbed some fast-food supper, then went to a nearby public pond.  I fly-fished, she stayed in the car to practice a speech she has to give in Spanish class.  She's a responsible student.

When we arrived at the pond, I recognized Mark and April already there fly-fishing.  We talked briefly, then I set about trying to catch some fish.  It was tough conditions...sort of windy, and a broad swath of aquatic vegetation had grown up along the entire shoreline, and was within 6" of the surface in most places.  Fish were visible on the inside weedline, which started about 2' from shore.  These fish could also see us.  Small bass were guarding nests.

Mark was using a topwater fly pattern to keep out of the weeds.  He had caught a few bluegills.  I tried the Gurgler pattern for bass, but the rough water surface didn't work to my advantage.  I switched to a microjig under an indicator and tossed it beyond the far side of the weedbed.  I had some light strikes, but nothing very aggressive.

I ended up removing the indicator, and then dapping the microjig into pockets in the weeds.  I ended up catching 1 Largemouth Bass, 4 Crappies, and 5 Bluegills doing this.

Too soon, it was time for me to leave so I could pick up my son and head home.  I got to the car, and my daughter had the key turned on, but didn't have the engine running.  I tried to start the car, but the battery was run down too low.  BUMMER!

Fortunately, Mark and April were done fishing, and were putting their gear away in their car.  I asked if they could jump my battery.  They could, and did.  AWESOME!!  What could have been a BIG DEAL, was remedied quickly and painlessly thanks to my fly-fishing friends!  THANK YOU, MARK AND APRIL!!!  I owe you!

4 comments:

  1. Excellent question, Anthony. Check out this post of mine..it shows some pictures of what I call "microjigs"...and the Springbrook Wunder which is a microjig with special features.
    I don't think I can make an actual link in these comments, so you'll have to copy-and-paste the following into your web browser:
    http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2010/10/crappie-fly-patterns.html

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  2. Dave
    I haven't tried the jig thing for some time, it may be a good time to try it above some of the brush in one of the creeks I fished. I would like your opinion on my recent post, just curious to see your answer. Yes the battery thing could have ruined a good outing. Thanks for sharing

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  3. Bill...it works. Really well. :)

    Check out my latest blog post from today's lunch!

    Your water is probably much clearer than what I have here. Get the microjig down near the fish....but also keep it ABOVE the fish. Crappies prefer to strike from below!

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